Govt has formed committee to finalise modalities of Kisan Rail: Railways

The government has formed a committee under the Ministry of Agriculture which also includes representatives of the Indian Railways to work out the modalities of 'Kisan Rail'.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to set up a 'Kisan Rail' through the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for a cold supply chain to transport perishable goods in her budget speech.

"The committee has been formed under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which includes representative from Ministry of Railways also, to work out the modalities of 'Kisan Rail'," the ministry informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Nine such refrigerated vans were already available on its network. These vans, with a carrying capacity of 17 tonnes each for transportation of highly-perishable parcel traffic, were developed and procured through the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala.

Officials said that temperature-controlled perishable cargo centres were commissioned at Ghazipur Ghat (UP), New Azadpur (Adarsh Nagar, Delhi) and Raja ka Talab (UP) as a pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project by Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) through a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative. Another project is under construction at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra's Nasik.

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